'Everyday Sunshine' at Mill Valley Film Fest

Fishbone's Angelo Moore testifies to the crowd in Chris Metzler and Lev Anderson's documentary "Everyday Sunshine: The Story of Fishbone."

Fishbone's Angelo Moore testifies to the crowd in Chris Metzler and Lev Anderson's documentary "Everyday Sunshine: The Story of Fishbone."

Photo: Christian Pitot, S.F. DocFest

Photo: Christian Pitot, S.F. DocFest

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Fishbone's Angelo Moore testifies to the crowd in Chris Metzler and Lev Anderson's documentary "Everyday Sunshine: The Story of Fishbone."

Fishbone's Angelo Moore testifies to the crowd in Chris Metzler and Lev Anderson's documentary "Everyday Sunshine: The Story of Fishbone."

Photo: Christian Pitot, S.F. DocFest

'Everyday Sunshine' at Mill Valley Film Fest

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The late 1970s was a magic time for a group of inner-city black kids, who, bused to schools in white neighborhoods, found themselves caught between two cultures.

And embraced it.

Fishbone might be the only African American punk band you could name. It has always stayed a bit underground, but that's the way the band members want to play it. They broke stereotypes, exerted wide influence, yet refused to play by recording labels' rules and paid a heavy price for it. There was also a bit of self-destruction as well.

"In the '80s, there was this kind of Hollywood scene of people that were huge fans of Fishbone," said San Francisco documentarian Chris Metzler, whose film "Everyday Sunshine: The Story of Fishbone," makes its Bay Area premiere this month at the Mill Valley Film Festival and DocFest in San Francisco.

"We went on tour with them to Europe, twice, to bond with them, gain their trust," Metzler said over coffee at a cafe along Divisadero. "That was an adventure in itself."

Among the down periods was in 1993, when founding member Norwood Fisher tried to help a band member succumbing to mental illness, and ended up being tried on kidnapping charges. Another original member, Angelo Moore, was forced to move in with his mother.

So did the band like the film?

"They came and saw it at the Los Angeles Film Festival, where we debuted" in June, Metzler said. "I think seeing it in front of the audience, seeing people laughing, being emotionally wrenched at the end of the film - Norwood likes the movie, but Angelo loves the movie. He's just like, 'That's my life! That's what it is.' This is the trials and travails of trying to be an aging punk rocker into your 40s."